I was waiting for the subway. I had my headphones in, BLASTING Norah Jones like it's heavy metal. It wasn't even that loud, her music is just that rich in its EQ spectrum that I heard nothing but that piano, the guitars, and her voice. This short old man walked up to me and mumbled something. I wasn't too sure about whether he was trying to tell me something, or if he was just talking to himself.
I noticed he was walking away from something, not to something. I looked over and there was a guy sitting between the train tracks. The place where was sitting was clearly forbidden, for safety reasons, and lots of ppl were hanging around the station like it was all good.
I removed my headphones and right then I heard the old man continue to explain what he was originally trying to tell me. This dude tried jumping in front of the previous train. He seemed really upset about something, and moved on to sit in the hole in the wall between the train tracks. He was sitting on a bar, and ran the risk of falling back into a moving train, or forward. The place he was sitting in was inside the wall, so a speeding train conductor would not see him emerge in his attempt to kill himself.
The dude was sitting with his face in his hands, eyes closed. He was ready to do something stupid. I felt that I needed to do something. I ran the risk of disturbing a drunk angry man, and provoking a violent act. I weighed the consequences, and I figured that getting rocked in the face was a lot better than watching a suicide. Finally I opened my mouth and said something.
"Dude you shouldn't sit there. It's dangerous. You can get seriously hurt."
He looked up, opened his eyes, and silently ignored me. The station, having a few dozen ppl standing around, suddenly got really quiet.
"Dude please come down from there. You can slip and fall and die if a train comes outta nowhere. You will get rocked and die."
He continued to ignore me. This is where I started to think that I would probably start a fight with a crazy pissed white guy.
"Dude come down right now. I am not gonna watch somebody die. Get down or I'll pull you down."
Somehow this got him to come down off the bar and moved across the tracks. I felt this was a right time to put my iPod on pause.
He came close to me, walked right by, and sat on a trash can.
The old white dude who approached me earlier told me that I probably saved a life today.
I really hope I did.
4 comments:
wow bro that's crazy. I can't believe no one else said anything. You're kinda a hero...well for at least a day until the dude finds another station where no one can bother him.
awesome man, next time you see him mention God in there. Seriously, good job, you seriuosly saved that guys life.
oh my gosh!!! the craziest things happen to you when ur taking the trains. wow. great job saving his life. one point accrued in the book of life. hehehehee
Great job! I am really glad you did something that crazy for this dude. I am pretty sure you saved his life, and he will remember that moment. Hope you can find him again so you can let him know how much God loves him. Again, good job.
K.V.
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